One of the most interesting dynamics in online gambling is the tandem between actively seeking knowledge about the medium’s technical details and playing leisurely. The former is a method of understanding what you would be paying for, while the latter is the idea of having a carefree and highly relaxed experience that doesn’t get lost in the details.
The reality is that, as many other things in life, this is a matter of setting one’s priorities. It may feel simple and somewhat straightforward to go into gaming for the sake of it.
Much of the market is all about using free spins no deposit, and playing whatever the casino wants you to with that offer.
However, the idea of setting yourself up based on preferences kind of requires having a serious level of information on what a type of gaming entails.
By definition, slots are exceedingly simple, but even they have a level of depth that, when understood, has a direct bearing on your experiences.
We will use this article to discuss one of the denominators of depth: volatility. It’s the type of detail that slot producers use to market their title and give it a sense of importance within the overall market.
Given that it’s a metric that comes in various levels, we will use our knowledge and expertise to label each main level and explain it accordingly.
Addressing volatility: definitions and applications
Before we move forward with this explanatory article’s labeling effort, we ought to talk about what volatility actually means. Every good presentation starts with fundamental definitions, which is exactly what we’re about to do.
Volatility refers to the relationship between the pacing and intensity of your winnings. The name mostly gives the idea of how easy the slot gets ‘flammable,’ with the desired effect being a win.
It can be highly flammable, which means that it gets going really easy with its wins, or it can have highly powerful effects, which refers to the size of your win.
The industry uses it as a key metric for describing a video slot machine. Since player preference and style analysis understand winnings as a key element of a gaming experience, every game producer emphasizes volatility as one of its selling points. They want players to understand it.
Volatility has an effect on game pacing because the frequency of winnings impacts the rush that you feel. Their size also gives you a rush, but opens up new psychological impacts, as the wowness of a sizable prize has a special effect that has very few equivalents in any entertainment industry.
As such, knowing how often and much you would expect to win is a very good start to understanding a slot based on its theoretical metrics.
Low volatility: the mark of steady gaming
Low volatility means that you land winning spins at a high frequency, but at the expense of the size of your bets. You are going for a game that feels consistent because of how often these rewards come your way. However, they are not for a player who wants to feel the intensity of a large win.
The mechanic behind this frequency is simple: you land winning combinations and form paylines at an easier rate. As such, you get more symbol assortments that land in a good combination, which will give you a direct win. However, the chances of highly valuable paylines are considerably weaker.
In short, low volatility is the high floor-low ceiling type of gaming. It ensures that you receive something during a given gaming session, even if the size and intensity of what you receive isn’t at the highest possible level.
The best applications are for inexperienced players who want to get to understand the dynamics of a slot in a practical way. You are gaming at a decent level, you’re getting steady wins, and you get to see how paylines form based on the slot’s rules.
Famous examples include Wild Scarabs and Thunderstruck II from Microgaming (part of a catalogue owned by Games Global after an acquisition), and Bloodsuckers II by NetEnt.
Medium volatility: balanced gaming for balanced sessions
Things go up a notch with medium volatility. This is the label that will get the shortest introduction because the best way to describe it is to learn about low and high volatility, and understand the medium level as the one that sits in the middle.
The natural temptation would be to think that it has the best of both worlds, or that it takes the misgivings and lands somewhere in between. We can’t say that we agree necessarily. In fact, the middle-range theory is too complex to talk about so leisurely, which is why we believe that a quick-fire explanation would work best.
Medium volatility brings balance. You are not enduring the frustration caused by low winnings or rare prizes. As a game style, we can say that slots like Fat Rabbit (from Push Gaming) and Diamond Strike (Pragmatic Play) show that being an advanced player is the best circumstance to play here.
It provides you with enough punch to feel like the wait is worth it, but it does not become frustrating because of the inherent wait.
High volatility: putting your money on the line in the truest sense
When you play online slots with high volatility, it’s likelier that your budget will slim down quite quickly before you get substantial winnings. However, the passion that a win from such a game generates is among the most intense positive feelings that you can receive from an online gambling session.
When high rollers (people with high budgets and expensive bets) get in tune with slot gaming, they do so at this type of game. It provides the most electric type of intensity that you can imagine because it builds anticipation with the low winning frequency, and hits it off big once the prize arrives.
However, as you can imagine, the downside is the fact that waiting for that prize involves continuous betting, which is very strenuous on a budget.
This is why casual players with low budgets should think twice or three times before they choose such a game. Despite this fact, there are still plenty of popular slots with these volatility labels, such as Book of Dead (from Play’n GO) and the Dead or Alive series.
Hybrid labels
Hybrids are what you might think they are: cases of games that fall somewhere between these three major labels. They are not a natural fit with a specific label, which is why placing them in between is in everyone’s interest.
- Low-Medium slots are those that tone down the frequency and increase the size, but only to a small degree when compared to the low and medium volatility slots. Given that both of these modifiers fall somewhere in between, a game like Guns N’ Roses (from NetEnt) is in this exact category.
- Medium-High slots don’t offer the exact thrill that a high-volatility game provides, but they still create a sense of intensity that is getting closer to the medium level. Gonzo’s Quest, along with many of its spin-offs, falls in this exact category.
Conclusion
To wrap up this article, you ought to remember that there will always be a balance between what you want, what you can afford, and what you should do based on principles of budget conservation.
In short, the main thing to consider here is the act of playing responsibly, which also entails making smart and educated decisions when choosing a slot!
